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The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on midweek to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the final practice run ahead of their next match against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by athletes who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If the team plan to keep him in this altered role he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Return and Development

This tour has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent a long period in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can go out and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, England complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the same as the side that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Three of those players arrived in the city on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will follow later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will miss the first match at the venue, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.